UNESCO International Literacy Prizes - International jury

John Benseman has worked in adult literacy and related fields for over 40 years, primarily as a researcher and evaluator in the sector, but also as a teacher and administrator. John has a PhD in historical development of lifelong learning in New Zealand. While most of his career has been in formal tertiary institutions, he has also worked extensively in non-formal settings with NGOs, membership organisations and voluntary groups. John is widely published from his research and evaluation work, especially around his strong interest in research-informed practice where research findings are used to improve everyday practice. His most recent work was as the lead researcher in a series of large-scale evaluation studies of workplace literacy programmes (Effective workplace literacy and numeracy programmes: a research-based reader), evaluating family literacy programmes and identifying specific adult literacy and language programme and teaching strategies from research findings. In retirement John works as a research/evaluator for a local community development project and an adult literacy teacher.

Appointed in 2019.

Rana Dajani Ph.D. molecular cell biology, Harvard Radcliff fellow, a Fulbrighter, Eisenhower fellow, Professor, former center of studies director, Hashemite University, Jordan, Yale and Cambridge visiting professor. World expert on genetics of Circassian and Chechan populations in Jordan. Established stem cell research ethics law in Jordan. Advocate for biological evolution and Islam, speaker at McGill University and MIT. Jordan team leader in studying refugee youth with Yale University and the epigenetics of trauma across generations. Higher education reform expert, member UN women Jordan advisory council. Writer in Science and Nature, Established a women mentor network, received PEER award 2014. Organized the first gender summit for the Arab world 2017. Most influential women scientists in Islamic World, 12 among100 most influential Arab women 2015, women in science hall of fame 2015, King Hussein Cancer Institute for cancer and biotechnology award 2009 and 2016 Global Changemaker Award IIE/Fulbright. Awarded the Jordan star of science by HM King Abdullah II, Higher Education Reform Expert EU-TEMPUS, Jordan, founder service learning center, Hashemite University, speaker at TEDxDeadsea and TEDxSPUT, World Islamic Economic Forum 2012 and World Science Forum 2015. Developed a community-based model “We love reading” to encourage children to read for pleasure received Synergos Arab world social innovators 2009, WISE Award 2014, King Hussein Medal of Honor 2014, Star Award 2015, IDEO.org best refugee education program 2015, UNESCO International Literacy Prize 2017, World Literacy Council Award 2018 and the Jacobs social entrepreneurship award 2018. Author of the book: Five scarves, Doing the impossible: If we can reverse cell fate why cant we redefine success, Nova Publisher 2018. Reviewed by Nature.

Appointed in 2019.

Dr Yidan Wang has over 30 years of experience working in education development. She has experiences in teaching, research, project development, capacity building and training. Her expertise covers rural education, basic education, secondary education, skills development, teacher education, education technology, public-private partnerships, and education policy where she has publications in these areas. Dr. Wang has worked in China, Japan, Philippines and the United States at institutions and development agencies including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for more than two decades. While at the World Bank, she led and coordinated a series of capacity building and training programs for WB staff, development agencies and senior policymakers. These include leading and coordinating the World Bank’s flagship courses on Education Staff Development Program (ESDP), coordinating and managing various global and regional conferences ranging from early childhood development to tertiary education. At Asian Development Bank, she pioneered the research and capacity building on public-private partnerships in education and designed teaching quality improvement project. She has also worked on rural and basic education projects by UNESCO and strategic planning training for policymakers by UNICEF. She taught at universities in China and was a visiting professor/scholar at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Harvard University, and Peking University. She holds a Ph.D. in International Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh. From 2000-2003 she served as a board member of International Leadership Association. Currently she is an adjunct research professor at China Institute for Educational Finance Research, Peking University, and a member of the Board of Visitors at School of Education, the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Wang spends her leisure time on opera singing and Tai Qi.

Appointed in 2023.

Dr. Mmabaledi Kefilwe Seeletso is the Director for the Southern African Development Community Centre for Distance Education (SADC-CDE), based at Botswana Open University. She specialises on Open and Distance Learning, Lifelong learning, online learning, research supervision and examination, among others. She has worked in an open and distance learning environment for over twenty years. Dr. Seeletso read for her Degree in Humanities and Post Graduate Diploma in Education at the University of Botswana in 1996 and 1997 respectively. She then studied towards her MA in Educational Management which she obtained in 2004, from the University of Bath, United Kingdom. Seeletso acquired her PhD from the University of Pretoria in 2016. She was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, during which she served at the University of Denver as a visiting scholar from August 2017 to January 2018. She is also the University of Bath Ambassador in Botswana and a member of the UKRI International Peer Review College. Dr. Seeletso served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, based at the UNESCO Chair on ODL from May 2019 to March 2021. She has published several peer reviewed journals and book chapters.

Appointed in 2023.

Dong-Eun Lee is a professor in the School of Korean Language & Literature at Kookmin University in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Her expertise spans Teaching Korean as a Second/Foreign Language, Second Language Acquisition, Discourse Analysis, Learner Corpus, and Second Language Pragmatics. She has made significant contributions to the field through her numerous publications, such as "A Discussion of Glossing & Transcription in Korean Oral Discourse" (2016) in Eoneohag and “A Discussion on Discourse Analysis of Korean Language Learners' Oral Language Corpus” (2016) in Hangul. Her research aims to uncover the underlying tensions between what is said and what is intended, with a dynamic focus on meaningful communication. She is also a co-author of Sejong Korean 7, 8 (2013) published by The National Academy of Korean Language. Her recent interest lies in developing a refresher curriculum for Korean teachers, exemplified by her work titled "A Study of Refresher Training Curriculum for Overseas Korean Language Teachers" (2023) published in Hangul. As a research director for teacher training programs, she has presented her work across North America, Europe, and Asian countries. Additionally, she holds positions as a trustee at Hangulhaghoe and committee member at the National Institute of International Education (NIIED), Ministry of Education of Korea.

Appointed in 2023.